


You have no idea

by MxGeek



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Commander Tower is confused, Featuring 50s slang, G.U.N. - Freeform, Gen, One-Shot, Shadow is shocked, Siblings, The Ark, i still don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24685600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MxGeek/pseuds/MxGeek
Summary: G.U.N. Commander Abraham Tower didn’t quite know how to react when, roughly a month ago, he received a report about an old cryogenic pod hidden on the ARK. He didn’t know how to react when they said there was a girl in that pod, alive and frozen in stasis for what was likely a very long time. He just couldn’t believe it.He couldn’t believe it was real.Yet here she was. In his office, by his window. With a medical chart longer than some military reports, and as real as she could be.Shadow strongly believed she had to be a very vivid hallucination
Relationships: Maria Robotnik & Abraham Tower, Maria Robotnik & Shadow the Hedgehog
Comments: 10
Kudos: 62





	You have no idea

Maria Robotnik looked just the way Commander Tower remembered her.

It had been over fifty years, and she still looked exactly the same.

The man could barely notice subtleties such as how thinner she was; perhaps because she had never been able to gather much weight in her sickly body, or perhaps because the memory of her had faded from his mind just enough so that he couldn’t paint the most accurate of portraits anymore. But if it wasn’t for her hair, which grew closely to her head as if it had been shaved but a few weeks ago, he would say not a day had passed, for this was still the exact same thirteen year old he knew when he was a kid.

It was a very strange feeling, to hear her calling him “sir” as if she didn’t know him. He couldn’t imagine how much stranger it was for her to suddenly hear that this old man was the little boy she one day called Abby.

Because that was before she died.

Abraham didn’t quite know how to react when, roughly a month ago, he received a report about an old cryogenic pod hidden on the ARK. He didn’t know how to react when they said there was a girl in that pod, alive and frozen in stasis for what was likely a very long time. He just couldn’t believe it. Why would the old G.U.N. authorities shoot a girl dead and then save her just to… what? Leave her in space, never to be found? Hide her away, after her supposed death had driven a man insane? The current commander read the most secret of archives, all sorts of reports and all types of investigation results, and still he couldn’t comprehend why someone would do something like that.

He couldn’t believe it was real.

Yet here she was. In his office, by his window. With a medical chart longer than some military reports, and as real as she could be.

‘I wouldn’t take you for the military type, Abby,’ the girl said after a long moment of awkward silence. She kept her eyes on the outside, admiring the vivid city bellow. Abraham would usually keep his blinds closed as to not be distracted from his work, but there was barely a point in doing so anymore; with or without the blinds, he had been unable to focus for weeks now.

‘I always thought I’d be doing the world some good,’ the commander stated.

‘But you said you wanted to be a doctor?’

‘I couldn’t get the marks.’ That was a lie. Tower was very much a top student, but, after all that had happened, he didn’t even think of enrolling in medical school.

But his lie made her laugh. Right about now, he thought literally anything in the world was worth it to hear that breathy chuckle; to keep her eyes shining with wonder and admiration for the planet she once wanted to visit so badly.

‘But why G.U.N.?’ She asked. Somewhere deep, deep down in her gentle voice, Abraham could hear a bittersweet tone. ‘Is this a place you can trust?’

‘Things changed,’ he spoke so readily he almost cut her midsentence. ‘I’ve been trying to make them change for the past forty years. If I can help it, none of the mistakes from the past will ever be repeated.’

She smiled. ‘That’s supermurgitroid.’

He almost laughed back at her, imagining how Agent Rouge would chastise him should he ever use the word “supermurgitroid” like the old man he was. Maria truly hadn’t had the time to grow past that sort of outdated slang, had she? Still, to think someone appreciated his work gave him a warm feeling.

But the feeling subsided as soon as the thought of Rouge brought his mind to the hedgehog that often accompanied her. The commander hadn’t told him anything yet; he couldn’t find the words to, no matter how hard he tried. Despite being the very thing that connected them, Maria’s death was also the rift between Commander Tower and Shadow.

The Black Arms incident immediately came to mind.

“None of the mistakes from the past will ever be repeated.”

That was also a lie. He had repeated many of the mistakes he wanted to avoid the most. What made him so different from the commander that had ordered the raid on the ARK fifty years ago?

He wondered if she knew. He wondered _how much_ she knew. Was she aware of what had happened to Gerald Robotnik? Did someone tell her of her cousin’s reoccurring terrorism? Did she know what Shadow had tried to do to the Earth? Or how many times he had saved it since then?

As if she was just waiting her cue, Maria asked the question she had been meaning to ask since she woke up from her stasis:

‘How’s Shadow?’

The commander honestly should have been prepared for that question. But how to answer it without dwelling into the dark abyss that was that little alien’s story?

‘Agent Shadow is… alright,’ he replied. ‘He’ll be glad to see you.’

‘ _Agent_ Shadow?’ She questioned. ‘He works here, too?’

Abraham nodded. He wasn’t completely sure why the girl frowned at that, but she gave one last look outside before sitting on his chair with a pensive look. He remained silent beside her for a few long minutes.

‘I’m sorry, but after what happened to grandfather, and the ARK and all they did… I didn’t think he would want to work for people like _these_ …’

It shocked the commander to hear this girl being so wary of his agency. This girl who seemed to believe there was good everywhere, who always gave everyone a chance. He wasn’t offended. If he hadn’t gotten to live all he had, and hadn’t had the chance to see the world change around him, he would surely still be pretty bitter about the organization that killed the people he loved just to shut down a project that could have saved lives.

‘Believe me, he didn’t want to at first. And we weren’t seeking to employ him, either,’ Abraham responded.

‘So why would he want to work here? Why _would_ you employ him? I thought G.U.N. wanted him dead, I th-’

‘Maria.’

He said her name in the sort of whispered voice one would use at a funeral. And she noticed.

Maria wasn’t unused to be talked to as if she was on her death bed, because usually, she was. If it wasn’t for the medicine decades advanced, the surgeries and medications she had been taking to hold back her illness, she surely wouldn’t have survived even one month out of stasis. But this was different.

His mismatched, tired eyes met her young, unchanged ones.

‘A lot happened since… that day. I don’t even know how to begin telling you all of it,’ said Abraham, still with that quiet tone. ‘I don’t know the reasoning behind Shadow’s actions, but if I were to guess… I’d say it’s because of you. He chose his own path,’ he quickly added when Maria raised her eyebrows. ‘But he says he has a purpose, and that he made a promise… he’s trying to protect innocent people. So am I. And experience has proven to both of us that this place and these people can help us make a difference.’

Silence followed.

The girl looked down with that thoughtful expression so similar to her grandfather’s; an expression that, unfortunately, was also shared by Dr Ivo Robotnik, which didn’t do much for Tower’s distress.

Maria came from a family of geniuses, and she would often prove to be smart enough to live up to that legacy, should time allow her. Yet, she was kinder that any human or mobian the commander knew. Had she had the chance to live her life, she could have done humanity a great deed. Now that she did have that chance, what would she do? Would they even let her? After all, for G.U.N., she was a national secret. But for Abraham Tower, she was his family brought back to life.

And there was a wall of time built between them.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said finally, looking back at him. ‘I didn’t mean to say that the people who work here are bad. I know you’re doing your best.’

‘It’s alright. I know it must be hard for you…’

Before the commander could continue, however, a knock came. From the other side of the door, he could hear a certain bat’s enthusiastic chatter, and he immediately knew who knocked.

He didn’t feel ready for that conversation, but it was bound to happen sometime. He asked them to come in.

‘… So Omega _should_ be back in time for that,’ Rouge was saying, and Shadow had one of those rare amused smiles on his face the moment he came in.

Maria immediately got up. She had the brightest of grins on her.

The second Shadow looked at her, his own face fell. For a moment, he thought it had been a trick of the light; there was no way on Earth this girl was who he thought she was.

‘Shadow!’

The trick of the light talked. And she had a horribly familiar voice.

‘Agent Shadow. Good to see you got my memo,’ Commander Tower mentioned. He stood next to his desk, his chair occupied by this unknown child. ‘Agent Rouge, I’ll ask you to please leave us alone for a moment.’

‘What’s going on?’ Rouge questioned.

‘Is she your friend, Shadow?’ The child asked in an enthusiastic manner, then waved at the bat. ‘Hullo! I’m Maria!’

Rouge’s eyes widened. Her immediate reaction was to look over at her friend, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the blond girl. He now strongly believed she had to be a very vivid hallucination.

But he knew that wasn’t the case from the instant she approached, knelt in front of him and looked him in the eye. Those bright blue eyes that shone with joy…

Rouge exchanged a look with the commander and decided that it would be best to leave silently and close the door behind her. That moment wasn’t hers to interfere with, and she didn’t know what to make of the situation right now.

The hedgehog stood there, half wishing Rouge wouldn’t leave him alone.

Maria hugged him. It wasn’t a feeble hug like the ones she used to give him back on the ARK, over fifty years ago. This one was strong, filled with longing and content, wholehearted and almost healthy.

Shadow wasn’t quite sure if he was breathing. He definitely wasn’t moving. It was almost as if his brain had stopped dead for a full minute.

At first, Maria thought it was because he didn’t remember her; it had been at least five decades, after all. It was painful, to think that it could have been so long and that she had missed so much that her little brother couldn’t even remember her anymore. But if he remembered his promise, then surely that couldn’t be the case, right? She then thought that maybe he just didn’t want to overwhelm her; maybe he didn’t hug back because he was afraid of hurting her. He had always been very concerned for her frail wellbeing.

What she didn’t expect was for him to push her away.

He held her shoulders with shaky hands. The look on his face was absolutely _haunted_.

They stood silent for what felt like an eternity. Shadow would have been less startled if he saw an actual ghost, and Abraham felt the urge to slap the hedgehog awake just to make that worried look leave the girl’s face. But he didn’t need to.

‘Maria…?’ Shadow’s tone was distant, as if he was internally trying to shake himself awake.

Maria nodded, a cheerful smile on her, but still sensible enough to not say anything and let him take it all in.

‘How…?’ He whispered.

‘It seems you weren’t the only one put in stasis,’ Tower cut in. ‘It doesn’t make sense, and we still don’t know why they would keep her alive. But we found her.’

‘But… y-you died- you-’ Shadow was unable to finish as he choked on the tears that started slowly falling. His vision blurred. He couldn’t breathe.

The girl placed two calming hands on his cheeks. Her hands were warm, almost as warm as her expression, and he couldn’t help but place his own palms over hers.

‘Shadow, I’m here,’ she said, clearing one of his cheeks with her thumb.

‘Y-you’re here…’ he repeated.

‘I’m alive.’

‘You’re alive… you’re _alright_.’

Shadow’s eyes began trailing through her figure, still small and frozen in time like a perfect picture, yet somehow different; not as sickly pale as she used to be, he noticed. The thought of her basking in the natural sunlight for the first time crossed his mind and, despite having a million other things to say, what immediately left his mouth was:

‘Do you like the Earth?’

She laughed at that. Chaos, he didn’t remember how her laughter sounded. He didn’t remember how sweet it was and how much he loved it instead of the cries his memory usually haunted him with.

‘I love the Earth!’ Maria exclaimed. She shortly looked over at Abraham before adding, ‘Thank you so much for saving it, Shadow.’

He was fairly sure his heart stopped at that.

If not for her hair, her clothes and the lack of blood staining them, Shadow would have thought this was the exact same Maria he had watched die so long ago. Like not a second had passed since then. Like he hadn’t grown, like his entire journey meant nothing, like he was still on the space colony. And it _hurt_.

He could still see the blood. He could still hear the gunshots and her desperate plea for him to protect humanity. He could still see her limp body smiling at him as he descended to Earth, alone and helpless.

But his sister was alive. She was here. He could see her, feel her, and those gentle blue eyes bore into him once again.

Shadow didn’t know what else to do if not fall into her arms. He held her as tight as his trembling limbs could, terrified she would just disappear again at any moment. Tears streamed down his face like a waterfall, and he didn’t know how to make them stop, nor did he care.

Maria just held him back, delicate and kind and caring.

She wasn’t sure when it started, but she was crying as well.

‘I missed you,’ she murmured, softly stroking his quills.

She could barely distinguish his voice between his sobs when he murmured back:

‘ _You have no idea…_ ’

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! ^^
> 
> Please forgive any incoherences, I wrote this in one night while drunk with sleepiness. Tried to edit it this morning, but had a headache. Anyway, this is just some light writing for my "what if Maria survived?" heart. Because why not?


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